GUEST ESSAY: If You Loved The Pitt, Watch These 5 Episodes of ER Next

From Natalie: "A beginner’s guide to blood, bureaucracy, and breakdown-in-the-supply-closet TV."

(Graphic by @nellanndee, too!)

Despite my best efforts to reinvent myself every two months, I am, at my core, a creature of habit. Same can of Diet Coke every morning after I walk the dog. Same wallpaper on every new phone. And the same medical drama I’ve been watching for the past twenty years. (A late-in-life autism diagnosis? In progress. But that’s a separate essay.)

I first watched ER from the top of the stairs in my childhood home–pajama-clad, holding my breath, eyes just barely peeking over the railing. Every Thursday night, I’d creep out to catch a glimpse of whatever my parents were tuned into, then bolt back to my bedroom the second the credits rolled. At eight years old, I understood that I was watching something vaguely important, but not much else. I wasn’t part of a fan community. The internet was something I barely had access to, and as far as I knew, ER was a show watched exclusively by me, my parents, and my Mom’s friend, who once referred to Anthony Edwards as “dreamy”.

In college, I rewatched the entire series, finally mature enough to make sense of all the bloody trauma scenes I’d half-watched from behind my hands. I found inactive forums and ancient fan sites. I read episode recaps written on Geocities pages and cried over Wattpad fanfiction last updated in 2009.

I never really stopped watching, never really stopped thinking about that fictional Chicago hospital. I’ve come back to ER over and over again at various points in my life, and each time, I see it a little differently. What felt like background noise on one rewatch becomes the emotional center of the next. Scenes I barely noticed now leave me gutted. It’s one of those rare shows that age well – not because it changes, but because you do.

Part of that staying power is because ER was groundbreaking from the start. It asked hard questions. It let its characters be flawed and noble, selfish and brave, sometimes all in the same scene. It changed the way television was made. But it’s not just iconic, it’s still relevant. Burnout. Bureaucracy. Grief. The impossible choices made in fluorescent light. It captured the work, and the weight of that work, without ever losing sight of the people doing it.

So when The Pitt premiered earlier this year, I didn’t just enjoy it–I recognized it. That same urgency, that same ache. The feeling that you’re watching people carry more than anyone should have to and doing it anyway. I got hooked fast and ended up starting a fanpage of my own. It’s part homage to the late-90’s fandom I missed out on, part attempt to recapture that internet community spirit of the early ER websites. It’s been an absolute delight to run @NoContextThePitt on Instagram, and a joy to receive so many variations of the same question in my inbox: I loved the Pitt, should I watch ER?

Short answer: yes. Longer answer: YES–with one caveat. Don’t start with the pilot.

The pilot of ER deserves every ounce of praise it gets. But it’s also very 1994, and I think that specific 90’s gloss tends to scare off a lot of new viewers. It rarely converts the casually curious of my friends.

So I made a list. Five episodes to start you off, to showcase what this show does best: pacing, relationships, and moral messes. Start here.

(Housekeeping: Yes, these episodes spoil very minor things. A promotion here, a facial hair choice there. But no major relationship spoilers, no character death spoilers, and no big arcs blown open. Just enough to make you care. Please don’t Google anything about the show before you watch! Spoilers live in thumbnail previews and cast lists! This show has some of the best, most devastating surprises in any television, ever. Let it hurt you in the order it intends to.)

1. “Feb 5, ‘95” (Season 1, Episode 15)

The funniest episode of the entire series, in my opinion. Not in a big, flashy way, but in the quiet rhythms of characters getting put in their place and actors who understand the beats of comedy. Carter fumbles through his shift like only a white, rich male can, before a beautiful moment where he realizes that Deb Chen has outpaced him at every turn. Benton disrespects a nurse and pays for it. There’s also a loose snake and a stolen crash cart. It’s peak early-ER.

2. “Exodus” (Season 4, Episode 15)

This is one of ER’s greatest disaster episodes. A chemical spill contaminates the hospital, forcing patients outside and leaving the staff scrambling. It’s the show at its most exhilarating: high stakes, limited options. Carter taking control of the situation comes after years of watching him grow as a bumbling med student trying to find his footing. This scene in particular is such a gorgeous reminder that he’s exactly where he was meant to end up.

3. “The Good Fight” (Season 5, Episode 8)

This episode brings us Lucy Knight, one of my favorite characters in the entire series. She’s bright and eager to help, no matter the obstacles. Most of the hour takes place outside of the ER as she and Carter attempt to track down the father of one of their patients. Unfortunately, you’ll have a preview of Carter’s Asshole ArcTM.

4. “A Shift in the Night” (Season 2, Episode 7)

This one is a love letter to good doctors quietly doing their jobs with limited resources. Unless you’re Mark Greene, who spends the first thirty minutes of the episode loudly griping. (Can somebody please get him a turkey sandwich?) It’s his fourth night shift in a row, so his complaining might be valid, but it’s important to note that this episode does not do him any favors. He is burnt out and exhausted. ER never stops asking: what does it cost to care?

5. “Hell and High Water” (Season 2, Episode 7)

If there’s one takeaway from this episode, it’s this: all men are fixable if they have wet hair and access to a child in peril. George Clooney proves that in this high-stakes event. He’s in hot water with County General (not a spoiler, because he’s always in hot water with County General) and has accepted a new position elsewhere. A rescue in a storm drain has the administrators of the hospital reconsidering how open they are to losing him.

Once you finish these five episodes, go back to the beginning. Yes, even the pilot! Especially the pilot. You’re ready for it! The pacing will feel slower and everybody’s hair will be moussed within an inch of its life, but now you’ll see what it was building toward–and maybe, eventually, you’ll understand why I’m still here, two decades later, talking about this show on the internet.

Scrub in.

---

Born in the Midwest, Nat can make small talk with just about anyone—unless you bring up your favorite TV show, in which case it’s about to become a long talk. She’s a nanny, household manager, occasional PA, and the voice behind @NoContextThePitt on Instagram. There, she posts memes, screencaps, and mildly unhinged hashtags. She also uses her account as a way to talk about burnout, the emotional toll of being a frontline worker, and the broken healthcare system that so often fails the people working inside it. When she’s not busy with that, Nat can usually be found onstage, on a bike trail, or answering obscure pop culture questions no one else at the table remembers asking. Her first crush was Noah Wyle, and honestly, that hasn’t really changed.